Alabama G.O.P. Governor Sees a Different New South

By KEVIN SACK

Published: August 29, 1997

MONTGOMERY, Ala.—
As Republican governors have taken control of statehouses around the South, their most exalted models have been Carroll A. Campbell Jr. of South Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, two former Governors who built broad support by moving aggressively to improve education and to recruit industry.

But here in Alabama, a state with a history of go-their-own-way governors, Fob James Jr. is defiantly bucking the pattern. While other governors open their treasuries to industrial prospects, Mr. James has attacked big tax breaks and other economic incentives as ''corporate welfare.'' While others emphasize education, Mr. James has suggested shrinking the state's expansive university system by 10 percent.

Ask Alabamians how they regard Mr. James these days, and they are likely to revisit his February threat to use the National Guard to block a court order demanding the removal of the Ten Commandments from a Gadsden courtroom. Or they may mention the 34-page letter he recently sent to a Federal judge arguing that the Constitution's Bill of Rights did not apply to the states.

They will chortle over his Fob isms, like this summer's recommendation that state workers study the Waffle House chain, the Governor's favorite restaurant, as a model for government efficiency and consistency. ''They're all good,'' Mr. James told the state personnel board. ''That's the thing I like about it. There ain't no surprises.''

Concerned that Mr. James's style and his emphasis on states' rights are only accentuating Alabama's image as a backwater and discouraging economic development, the state's industrial recruiters have grown increasingly critical of the Governor. And only a year before he faces re-election, Mr. James is beginning to alienate the state's normally Republican business leaders.

One little-known Republican businessman, Lewis Leslie McAllister Jr., a manufacturer of shower doors, has already announced a primary challenge. A more prominent Republican, Winton Blount 3d, a former chairman of the Business Council of Alabama and of the State Republican Party's finance committee, is considering running.

There are other signs of disunity. Republican lawmakers recently rejected the Governor's call for a slight decrease in college financing in a special legislative session. When Mr. James wrote his letter challenging the Federal courts' jurisdiction over the states, Alabama's Attorney General, Bill Pryor, a fellow Republican, quickly declared that the Governor's views ''do not state the legal position of the State of Alabama.''

And while most political analysts believe Mr. James will be difficult to defeat next year, 49 percent of 407 Alabamians questioned in a recent poll, including 30 percent of Republicans, said they would vote for someone other than Mr. James. The poll's margin of sampling error was plus or minus five percentage points.

Such intraparty dissent is becoming more common as Republicanism gains momentum in the South. In South Carolina this year, Gov. David Beasley, a Republican, called for the Confederate battle flag to be lowered from atop the State Capitol, only to have legislators from his own party quickly bury the proposal.

Some political scientists see such fractures as signs of the maturation of Republican politics in the South. In Alabama, the party now claims six out of eight state constitutional officers, both United States Senators and five out of seven members of Congress.

''It shows the growth of the Republican Party in one way because they have the luxury of some disunity now,'' said William H. Stewart, the chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama. ''They feel they can afford to speak out without giving advantage to the Democrats.''

To Alabamians who remember Gov. George C. Wallace, Mr. James's brand of populism has a familiar feel, even if his defense of states' rights is rooted in religion rather than race.

In late June, Mr. James wrote Judge Ira DeMent of Federal District Court, asking him to reverse a decision that struck down a 1993 state law intended to restore voluntary prayer to Alabama schools.

In his letter, Mr. James argued that the Supreme Court had overstepped its authority in separating church and state.

''The Supreme Court recognizes no authority greater than itself,'' he wrote. ''Not the Constitution. Not the Almighty. In the name of separation of church and state, the Court seeks to rule the church. It tells the believing community -- the church -- where and when they may not pray. How dangerous a situation when human government steps over this line.''

Judge DeMent responded by reminding Mr. James that the Supreme Court's primacy on constitutional interpretation was established in 1803. The Governor's request, he wrote in denying Mr. James's motion, ''threatens to erode this principle and, consequently, poses a serious threat to our system of democratic self-government.''

The Governor, an Episcopalian, has made no secret of his belief that religion has a role in public life. His legal adviser, Bill Gray, came under attack last year after it was disclosed that he questioned judicial candidates about their religious preferences and churchgoing.